This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Use of payment accounts by consumers to fund purchase transactions for products (e.g., good and services, etc.) at merchants has become ubiquitous. The transactions generally define transfers of funds, in the amounts of the purchases, from accounts associated with the consumers to accounts associated with the merchants. More specifically, issuers of the payment accounts interact with payment networks to transfer the funds to acquirers associated with the merchant accounts. The acquirers then transfer the funds, as appropriate, to the merchants via their accounts. Separately, merchants often rely on one or more different loan products (e.g., loans, lines of credit, etc.), for example, to purchase products and/or items used in the operation of their businesses, to pay wages for employees of the merchants, to fund improvements to the merchants, and/or to satisfy other costs associated with their operations. The loan products often involve the merchants making monthly payments to the providers of the loan products, to reduce or payoff amounts used by the merchants in connection with the loan products.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.